chestikoph1

Now keep on adjusting the roller as you go you can adjust the hieght and angle as you progress The lip should slowly be getting follded under The further you go the more the roller needs to be behind the lip once it s flat, stop Youre done!! If you keep going, you will start to flare out the guard, you can only go so far when flaring it out before it starts to distort. You could do all that with just a peice of pipe or a hammer, but the finish isnt as good. Hope that was entertaining, any questions fire away that was as brief as i could make it, but it isnt to hard.

Hi Not sure if this should go here but anyway. Just lowered the rear of my ke55 and the tyres sit pretty close to the lip of the guard, they don't quite touch, but when driving with lateral movement of the diff and when the wheels suck up into the guard they would have scrubbed. So i rolled the lip of the guard up. The following is rough guide with some pics, Guard rolling/flaring tool. The machine can be hired, or maybe even buy one between a few mates, it should only cost you about $70 - $100 each between 3 or 4 mates. Considering the going rate is about $55 dollars per guard, if you do all 4 you're still up, plus you have the machine for future cars. (sorry about the dodgy photos, the auto focus was playing up) First i gave the guards a good clean especially underneath the lip, you don't want to trap any mud or crap under there, that will cause rust in the future. Bolt the tool to the hub or drum with your wheel nuts. They are set up for mutiple stud options, position the roller at the top of the guard, with roller hard up against the lip. Before you start rolling you must soften up your paint (to try and mimimise cracking of the paint) use a hair drier or a heat gun on low to WARM up the paint DON'T OVERHEAT IT WILL BURN !! At this point start to roll your guard by turning the hub or drum around, don't go to far around only about the top third of it needs doing. WARNING (if you have any bog near the lip of the guard, cracking might be unavoidable, so be prepared for this, and don't freak out if this happens)

Well just got the leafs back and they look pretty good, they do feel a bit heavier with extra leaf, he has put one in under the main leaf. Every thing fits well back in there, didnt need longer u bolts although i didnt change the leaf cushions for nolathane only the shackle and eye bushes. And the TRD shockies slot right in, they should be plenty of dampening with the extra leaf. Its only a 2 inch drop but i have still rolled the lip of the gaurd up to avoid any annoying scrubs. Took some dodgy pics of how i did that, will post them up soon.

Yeah they are brand new. I got them from a guy here in Perth, pm me if you want the details, they were about $350 . Not sure if thats a good price for them, but its pretty close to other top end shockie prices. There about 2 inches shorter extended lenght and about 1 inch shorter compressed than ke ones, so hopefully it should be sweet.

Hi everyone Finally some action happening on this project and something worth posting about. Starting to sort out the rear suspension, I have bought some TRD shortstroke 8 way adjustable shockies and I am getting the rear leafs reset 2inches lower and adding another leaf plus some urathane bushes. Will post up some pics of the car after it's all set up.

Just sorting out the rear suspension in the ke55, i was aiming to get the rear about 2 inches lower (that would get the wheels just about level with the gaurds) and having a look at the leafs, if they were to be reset 2 inches lower that would make them sit flat, if not inverted. "not good" So i was thinking of doing both, reset them 1 inch lower and get some 1 inch lowering blocks. Just wondering what most crew on here have done? and to what degree of success in regards to handeling (axle tramp etc) ? look forward to your views

Are they the van/wagon looking things? I havn't even seen one of those things over here, most of the old cars just get crushed over here, i have seen cars from the early nineties on verges and on the back of flat beds going to the wreckers. Must be all the money from the mines "apparantly" :jamie:

Wow, that looks super tidy, especially the interior. Hope you don't have to do much to get it rego'd. Nice pick-up. Seems to be a few of these old rollas in Tassie.

Thanks for the tip about the seats, I'll check them out. Not sure if I'll be keeping the rear seat just yet, it depends if the kids want to come for the odd ride or if I get the bug and become a bit more competitive with this car. (Somehow, all my projects end up becoming more than what I initially intended them to be.) I might be working on the 20th, so not sure if I'll make the cruise. Plus, I don't think the car is quite cruise worthy just yet. Cheers for the invite.

Yeah, keeping the round lights but thinking of changing the grill to the three bar instead of the five bar. With the interior, I stripped all the trim, front and back, cleaned them really well, took the chrome strips off and then painted them with interior paint. Then put them all back together, has been like that for about 6 months, seems to be holding up really well, no fading or peeling. Hoping to ditch the standard seats soon and replace them with something a little more hugging. Not sure whether I will go down the path of a cage. Last car I had was fully stripped, interior, cage, seats and harnesses, but was really uncomfortable day to day driving. The noise and the heat was almost imposible to deal with, so this one will remain relatively standard.

I think i have shrink these photos down, can't seem to fit them into one post

And got rid of the steelies and put on a set of these

Cheers for the comments Thought i might post up some photos of some of the other stuff i have done since i have had it redid the interior black. Before

The front setup is as follows shortened sprinter struts converted to coilover and hubs sprinter power steering arms bilstein short stroke motor sport inserts ke55 adjustable tops ( not super happy with these, they work very well but they add about 40mm to the hieght of the front because they are so tall ) series 4 rx7 calipers, civic slotted rottors, ######. addapters ( a really nice piece of engineering ) and braided lines rca's upgraded swaybar only 20mm and a whole lot of bushes. I recomend the brake setup, pulls up realy well, have tried multiple setups in previous cars simmilar wieghts but not corolla's, and this combo works great. Every thing pretty much bolts in only problem is clearance between rotors and the end of the lower control arm nothing a few taps with medium persuader doesn't fix seems to handle very well but can't comment conclusively, as the rear is still very sloppy still standard, hoping to sort it out after chrissy.

Hey guys Have been a member of this forum for a little while and thought i might start my own rides and project post. Here's the run down. Bought a ke55 coupe off the net all the way from our sunny capital Canberra, which is a fair way considering i live in Perth, i had been on the look out for a couple of months over here but nothing was coming up, got impatient and grabbed this one. It's pretty straight save for a few small dings in the front and back, of which one has been fixed, and little rust in the usual places. (not as good as it looked in the photos when it arrived, the guy was a good photographer ) it's always a risk when you can't physically see the car. Plans so far is decent brakes and suspension first (already sorted the front). will post up specs if your keen Then engine conversion, driveline and then take her all apart and give the body some treatment. And as many bits and pieces in between. Hope to keep it pretty streetable and still be able to do some track days at wanneroo, motorkhana and small tarmac events. Will post up future mods and stuff i have already done in the coming weeks, let me kow what you think and any good advice is apreciated. Thanks for reading.

Hi all Just a question for the TRD guru's out there, whats the difference with the different TRD shocks eg: TRD yellow, TRD blue, and TRD green. cheers.

Hi Olskool are you still looking for some strut tops? because i have some iam not going to be using (check the for sale for info)

I went to get my Ke55 stuts converted into coilovers today, and the guy at the suspension place sugested that use AE86 struts instead, he said that he can use better shocks into it and you get the added bonus of bigger brakes. Now that all sounds sweet to me, but i did not know that this was possible. he insures me that it all bolts up. Has any used this combo into a Ke55? And what if any problems did you have? Thanks

Yeah I know :wink: very expensive to race and look after the old girl. But with a new member to the family (baby girl) it had to go, and be replaced with some thing cheaper, hence the corolla. so any feedback on the suspension would be great.

Hi everyone, aim new to the forum and new to the corolla experience, (previous ride MK1 cortina GT 2 door) I have recently bought a ke55 hardtop and planning some mods, first one being front suspension. I have searched the forums a fair bit and found the info regarding the many strut /brake conversions e.g. xt130, RA40, RA60....... .But there doesn’t seem to be much on any one using the standard Ke55 strut and converting that to coilover and adapting larger brakes. Has any one done this? And had success. Or is there some thing I don't Know. Thanks